Core/1st Hour

First Hour at Contra Costa Midrasha is CORE class for Midrasha students.  These classes, taught at all Midrasha campuses, contain rich, substantive materials designed to engage your brain and your heart into connecting with who you are as a jew and as a person.  Students are assigned to these classes, according to their grade.

"Although many of my friends in Midrasha grew up with different levels of Judaism, I always felt a common connection, and I found comfort in that."  - Ally Davis, Class of 2008

Click on the links below to be connected to the grade/class that relates to you:

8th Grade: Gesharim or "Building Bridges"

9th Grade:  Etgar or "Challenge"

10th Grade:  Kesher Alef or "Connection"

11th & 12th Grade:  Kesher Bet or "Connection"

8th Grade: Gesharim or "Building Bridges" -- Ethics in Action

Start your Midrasha experience with an exciting chance to meet Jewish teens from around the Bay Area as you grapple with modern ethical issues and take action to address homelessness, discrimination and injustice.  Doing good never felt this right.

9th Grade:  Etgar or "Challenge" -- Challenging Who We Are

Who am I?  What do I believe?  Why are other Jews different than I am?  How are they the same?  Explore issues of Jewish identity and come up with surprising answers.  The class includes participation in three amazing retreat weekends.

10th Grade:  Kesher Alef or "Connection" -- Israel, A Present that Opens the Past

Come to understand Israel through its own lens.  Kesher Alef uncovers Israel's history, culture and politics by looking at its movies, poetry, historical documents, maps and websites.  Explore the Jewish homeland on its own terms.

11th & 12th Grade:  Kesher Bet or "Connection" -- The Jewish Experience in America

Uncover what it really means to be Jewish in contemporary America.  Whether you identify as a "Jewish American," an "American Jew," or don't like labels at all, you will wrestle with the challenges posed by trying to be Jewish in our modern landscape.  Examine the lives and work of famous Jewish Americans, understand the development of the Jewish sects - Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Orthodox and Independent, delve into stereotypes and more.